The Popinjays

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The rise and fall of the Woodville family - Rated
Geoffrey Richardson has a concise and readable style, which make his books a pleasure to read, but there is no lack of relevant detail. The Hollow Crowns deals with the battles of the Wars of the Roses and The Deceivers deals with the mystery of the Princes in the Tower and Richardson has complemented these with three volumes each following one of the three most instrumental families in the Wars of the Roses.

The Popinjays deals with the Woodville family and most famously with Elizabeth Grey nee Woodville, Edward IV's Queen. The Woodville family were both handsome and ambitious, but unfortunately these traits were not matched with any particular virtues in the Council Chamber or on the battlefield. They were also a prolific family, and the many marriages of the queen's siblings and off-spring and the favour shown by Edward IV helped drive a wedge between the king and other Yorkist supporters, including Warwick, The Kingmaker. There were also tensions with Lord Hastings and certainly with Edward's brother, George, Duke of Clarence. The tragic upshot of the excessive power of the Woodvilles was the deposition of Edward V and the complete loss of Woodville power. Had the young Edward been less influenced by his maternal family, and had they perhaps been less ready to seize wealth and power, further strife may have been avoided and the question of the legitimacy of the Woodville marriage might not have reared it's ugly head. Richardson presents again his plausible case for the fate of the Princes in the Tower, with the actions of Elizabeth being instrumental to our understanding. Why should Henry VII on a blatantly false pretext strip his mother-in-law of her dower estates and virtually imprison her in a nunnery where she died in relative poverty?

A final tragic coda to the Woodville story is that of Lady Jane Grey the nine days queen, who was doubly descended from Elizabeth Woodville, being descended on her mothers side from Elizabeth of York and on her fathers side from the Grey family, descendants of Elizabeth Woodville's son from her first marriage, Thomas Marquis of Dorset.